communitas et caritas

Photo was taken at the Shrine of Our Lady of Snows in Belleville, IL. So, it seems that this blog is now a monthly event for me...  for right now, that's just how it is. Today is the feast of the Annunciation.  I'm planning the prayer for the evening, so I thought I would share the reading that I've chosen, from Mother Janet Erskine Stuart, on the Immaculate Heart of Mary.     Serving God gratis means with no conditions at all, here or there, in this or that employment, in health or sickness, consolation, uncertainty, repugnances, [in] God’s will and God’s service.  I, His little servant, need nothing else.  That is Our Lady’s spirit, and the word that came out of the depths of her Immaculate Heart at the great moment of her life was, “ ecce ancilla Domini. ”     If she were now in our midst, what would she be like and what would be her “gratis service?”  Willing service of God and of others, untiring, constant and devoted. Wh...

I grew up in a household that was not particularly devoted to Mary.  In fact, I don't remember ever saying the rosary, except one week at Catholic summer camp, and then I really learned how to say it in college.  It's still not a big part of my prayer life. So, Marian beliefs were a mystery to me for a long time.  The Immaculate Conception is perhaps still a mystery to a lot of people (particularly those who mistakenly think it refers to the conception of Jesus... no, it's about the conception of Mary herself, in her mother Anne's womb).  There are two lines from today's readings that stick with me: "Nothing will be impossible for God." and "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” I know, that second one is just not so favored lately.  But it speaks to me:  that I am striving to be attentive to the will of God, and that I hope to be pliable so that God's will might be done through me.  It se...